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Paul Newman
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Paul Leonard Newman
26 January 1925, Shaker Heights, Ohio
26 September 2008, Westport, Connecticut
Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, and auto racing enthusiast. He won numerous awards, including an Academy Award for best actor for his performance in the 1986 Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money and eight other nominations, three Golden Globe Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, an Emmy award, and many honorary awards. He also won several national championships as a driver in Sports Car Club of America road racing, and his race teams won several championships in open wheel IndyCar racing.
Newman was a co-founder of Newman's Own, a food company from which Newman donated all post-tax profits and royalties to charity. As of August 2010, these donations had exceeded $300 million.
Newman was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland), the son of Theresa (née Fetzer or Fetsko; Slovak: Terézia Fecková) and Arthur Samuel Newman, who ran a profitable sporting goods store. Newman's father was Jewish, the son of immigrants from Poland and Hungary; Newman's mother, who practiced Christian Science, was born to a Slovak Roman Catholic family at Ptičie (formerly Pticsie) in the former Austria–Hungary (now in Slovakia). Newman had no religion as an adult, but described himself as "a Jew", stating that "it's more of a challenge". Newman's mother worked in his father's store, while raising Paul and his brother, Arthur, who later became a producer and production manager.
Newman showed an early interest in the theater, which his mother encouraged. At the age of seven, he made his acting debut, playing the court jester in a school production of Robin Hood. Graduating from Shaker Heights High School in 1943, he briefly attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where he was initiated into the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity.
Newman served in the United States Navy in World War II in the Pacific theater. Newman enrolled in the Navy V-12 program at Ohio University, hoping to be accepted for pilot training, but was dropped when it was discovered he was color blind. He was sent instead to boot camp and then received further training as a radioman and gunner. Qualifying as a rear-seat radioman and gunner in torpedo bombers, in 1944, Aviation Radioman Third Class Newman was sent to Barber's Point, Hawaii. He was subsequently assigned to Pacific-based replacement torpedo squadrons (VT-98, VT-99, and VT-100). These torpedo squadrons were responsible primarily for training replacement pilots and combat air crewmen, placing particular importance on carrier landings.
He later flew from aircraft carriers as a turret gunner in an Avenger torpedo bomber. As a radioman-gunner, he served aboard the USS Bunker Hill during the Battle of Okinawa in the spring of 1945. He was ordered to the ship with a draft of replacements shortly before the Okinawa campaign, but by a fluke of war, was held back because his pilot had an ear infection. The men who remained in his detail were killed in action.
After the war, he completed his English degree at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, graduating in 1949. Newman later studied Drama at Yale University, graduating in 1954, and later studying under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in New York City.
Oscar Levant wrote that Newman initially was hesitant to leave New York for Hollywood: "Too close to the cake," he reported him saying, "Also, no place to study."
Newman made his Broadway theater debut in the original production of William Inge's Picnic with Kim Stanley. He later appeared in the original Broadway productions of The Desperate Hours and Sweet Bird of Youth with Geraldine Page. He would later star in the film version of Sweet Bird of Youth, which also starred Page.
His first movie for Hollywood was The Silver Chalice (1954), followed by The Rack (1956) and acclaimed roles in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), as boxer Rocky Graziano; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), opposite Elizabeth Taylor; and The Young Philadelphians (1959), with Barbara Rush and Robert Vaughn. However, predating all of these above was a small but notable part in an August 8, 1952 episode of the science fiction TV series Tales of Tomorrow entitled "Ice from Space", in which he played Sergeant Wilson, his first credited TV or film appearance.
In February 1954, Newman appeared in a screen test with James Dean, directed by Gjon Mili, for East of Eden (1955). Newman was testing for the role of Aron Trask, Dean for the role of Aron's fraternal twin brother Cal. Dean won his part, but Newman lost out to Richard Davalos. The same year, Newman co-starred with Eva Marie Saint and Frank Sinatra in a live —and color —television broadcast of Our Town, a musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder's stage play with the same name. Newman was a last-minute replacement for James Dean. In 2003, Newman acted in a remake of Our Town, taking on the role of the stage manager.
Newman was one of the few actors who successfully made the transition from 1950s cinema to that of the 1960s and 1970s. His rebellious persona translated well to a subsequent generation. Newman starred in Exodus (1960), The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963), Harper (1966), Hombre (1967), Cool Hand Luke (1967), The Towering Inferno (1974), Slap Shot (1977), and The Verdict (1982). He teamed with fellow actor Robert Redford and director George Roy Hill for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973).
He appeared with his wife, Joanne Woodward, in the feature films The Long, Hot Summer (1958), Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!, (1958), From the Terrace (1960), Paris Blues (1961), A New Kind of Love (1963), Winning (1969), WUSA (1970), The Drowning Pool (1975), Harry & Son (1984), and Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990). They both also starred in the HBO miniseries Empire Falls, but did not have any scenes together.
In addition to starring in and directing Harry & Son, Newman also directed four feature films (in which he did not act) starring Woodward. They were Rachel, Rachel (1968), based on Margaret Laurence's A Jest of God, the screen version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), the television screen version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Shadow Box (1980), and a screen version of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (1987).
Twenty-five years after The Hustler, Newman reprised his role of "Fast" Eddie Felson in the Martin Scorsese-directed The Color of Money (1986), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He told a television interviewer that winning an Oscar at the age of 62 deprived him of his fantasy of formally being presented with it in extreme old age.
In 2003, he appeared in a Broadway revival of Wilder's Our Town, receiving his first Tony Award nomination for his performance. PBS and the cable network Showtime aired a taping of the production, and Newman was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie.
His last screen appearance was as a conflicted mob boss in the 2002 film Road to Perdition opposite Tom Hanks, although he continued to provide voice work for films.
In 2005 at age 80, Newman was profiled alongside Robert Redford as part of the Sundance Channel's TV series Iconoclasts.
In keeping with his strong interest in car racing, he provided the voice of Doc Hudson, a retired race car in Disney/Pixar's Cars. Similarly, he served as narrator for the 2007 film Dale, about the life of the legendary NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, which turned out to be Newman's final film performance in any form. Newman also provided the narration for the film documentary The Meerkats, which was released in 2008.
Newman announced that he would entirely retire from acting on May 25, 2007. He stated that he did not feel he could continue acting at the level he wanted to. "You start to lose your memory, you start to lose your confidence, you start to lose your invention. So I think that's pretty much a closed book for me."
With writer A.E. Hotchner, Newman founded Newman's Own, a line of food products, in 1982. The brand started with salad dressing, and has expanded to include pasta sauce, lemonade, popcorn, salsa, and wine, among other things. Newman established a policy that all proceeds, after taxes, would be donated to charity. As of early 2006, the franchise has donated in excess of $250 million. He co-wrote a memoir about the subject with Hotchner, Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good. Among other awards, Newman's Own co-sponsors the PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award, a $25,000 reward designed to recognize those who protect the First Amendment as it applies to the written word. His daughter, Nell Newman, took the helm of the company with his death.
One beneficiary of his philanthropy is the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a residential summer camp for seriously ill children, which is located in Ashford, Connecticut. Newman co-founded the camp in 1988; it was named after the gang in his film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Newman's college fraternity, Phi Kappa Tau, adopted Hole in the Wall as their "national philanthropy" in 1995. One camp has expanded to become several Hole in the Wall Camps in the U.S., Ireland, France, and Israel. The camps serve 13,000 children every year, free of charge.
In June 1999, Newman donated $250,000 to Catholic Relief Services to aid refugees in Kosovo.
On June 1, 2007, Kenyon College announced that Newman had donated $10 million to the school to establish a scholarship fund as part of the college's current $230 million fund-raising campaign. Newman and Woodward were honorary co-chairs of a previous campaign.
Paul Newman was one of the founders of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), a membership organization of CEOs and corporate chairpersons committed to raising the level and quality of global corporate philanthropy. Founded in 1999 by Newman and a few leading CEOs, CECP has grown to include more than 175 members and, through annual executive convenings, extensive benchmarking research, and best practice publications, leads the business community in developing sustainable and strategic community partnerships through philanthropy.
Newman was named the Most Generous Celebrity of 2008 by Givingback.org. He contributed $20,857,000 for the year of 2008 to the Newman's Own Foundation, which distributes funds to a variety of charities.
Upon Newman's death, the Italian newspaper (a "semi-official" paper of the Holy See) L'Osservatore Romano published a notice lauding Newman's philanthropy. It also commented that "Newman was a generous heart, an actor of a dignity and style rare in Hollywood quarters."
Newman was married twice. He was married to Jackie Witte from 1949 to 1958. They had a son, Scott (1950), and two daughters, Susan Kendall (1953) and Stephanie. Scott Newman, who died in November 1978 from a drug overdose, appeared in the films Breakheart Pass, The Towering Inferno, and the 1977 film Fraternity Row. Paul Newman started the Scott Newman Center for drug abuse prevention in memory of his son.
Susan is a documentary filmmaker and philanthropist and has Broadway and screen credits, including a starring role as one of four Beatles fans in I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), and also a small role opposite her father in Slap Shot. She also received an Emmy nomination as co-producer of his telefilm, The Shadow Box. Newman had two grandsons.
Newman married actress Joanne Woodward on February 2, 1958. They had three daughters: Elinor "Nell" Teresa (1959), Melissa "Lissy" Stewart (1961), and Claire "Clea" Olivia (1965). Newman directed Elinor (stage name Nell Potts) in the central role alongside her mother in the film The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.
The Newmans lived away from the Hollywood environment, making their home in Westport, Connecticut. Paul Newman was well known for his devotion to his wife and family. When asked about infidelity, he famously quipped, "Why go out for hamburger when you have steak at home?"
For his support of Eugene McCarthy in 1968 (and effective use of television commercials in California) and his opposition to the War in Vietnam, Newman was placed nineteenth on Richard Nixon's enemies list, which he claimed was his greatest accomplishment.
Consistent with his work for liberal causes, Newman publicly supported Ned Lamont's candidacy in the 2006 Connecticut Democratic Primary against Senator Joe Lieberman, and was even rumored as a candidate himself, until Lamont emerged as a credible alternative. He donated to Chris Dodd's presidential campaign.
He attended the first Earth Day event in Manhattan on April 22, 1970. Newman was also a vocal supporter of gay rights, including same-sex marriage.
Newman was concerned over global warming and supported nuclear energy development as a solution.
Newman was an avid auto racing enthusiast, and first became interested in motorsports ("the first thing that I ever found I had any grace in") while training at the Watkins Glen Racing School for the filming of Winning, a 1969 film. Newman's first professional event was in 1972, in Thompson, Connecticut, and he was a frequent competitor in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) events for the rest of the decade, eventually winning four national championships. He later drove in the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans in Dick Barbour's Porsche 935 and finished in second place. Newman reunited with Barbour in 2000 to compete in the Petit Le Mans.
From the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, he drove for the Bob Sharp Racing team, racing mainly Datsuns (later rebranded as Nissans) in the Trans-Am Series. He became closely associated with the brand during the 1980s, even appearing in commercials for them. At the age of 70 years and 8 days, he became the oldest driver to be part of a winning team in a major sanctioned race, winning in his class at the 1995 24 Hours of Daytona. Among his last races were the Baja 1000 in 2004 and the 24 Hours of Daytona once again in 2005.
Newman initially owned his own racing team, which competed in the Can-Am series, but later co-founded Newman/Haas Racing with Carl Haas, a Champ Car team, in 1983. The 1996 racing season was chronicled in the IMAX film Super Speedway, which Newman narrated. He was also a partner in the Atlantic Championship team Newman Wachs Racing. Newman owned a NASCAR Winston Cup car, before selling it to Penske Racing, where it now serves as the #12 car.
Newman was inducted into the SCCA Hall of Fame at the national convention in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 21, 2009.
Newman was scheduled to make his professional stage directing debut with the Westport Country Playhouse's 2008 production of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, but he stepped down on May 23, 2008, citing health issues.
In June 2008 it was widely reported that Newman, a former chain smoker, had been diagnosed with lung cancer and was receiving treatment at Sloan-Kettering hospital in New York City. Photographs taken of Newman in May and June showed him looking gaunt. Writer A.E. Hotchner, who partnered with Newman to start the Newman's Own company in the 1980s, told the Associated Press that Newman told him about the disease about eighteen months prior to the interview. Newman's spokesman told the press that the star was "doing nicely," but neither confirmed nor denied that he had cancer. In August, after reportedly finishing chemotherapy, Newman told his family he wished to die at home.
He died on September 26, 2008, aged 83, surrounded by his family and close friends. His remains were subsequently cremated after a private funeral service near his home in Westport.
Chosen by Empire magazine in 1995 as #12 in the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history.
Said that he burned his tuxedo on his 75th birthday because he is through with formality.
Says the sound he loves most is that of a V-8 engine.
Owns The Hole In The Wall Gang Camp, a summer camp for children with cancer and other blood-related diesases (and their siblings) in Ashford, Connecticut, and also runs a fall "Discovery" program for inner city kids, also in Ashford.
Ranked #19 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list in October of 1997.
Lives in Connecticut; has been known to race at The Lime Rock Road Circuit.
Has his own line of food products, "Newman's Own", featuring mainly spaghetti sauces and salad dressings. The company has made more than $100 million in profits over the years, all of which he has donated to various charities.
Owns half of the Champ Car (auto racing) team Newman-Haas.
Awarded an honorary Oscar in 1994 in recognition of his charity work.
Father, with Joanne Woodward, of actress Melissa Newman, Nell Potts, and Claire Newman.
A son and two girls with first wife Jacqueline "Jackie" Witte. His only son, Scott Newman, died of a drug overdose in 1978. Daughter, Susan Kendall Newman, is well known for stage acting and her philanthropic activities. His other daughter from his first marriage is named Stephanie and was born in 1954.
Before he became an actor, Newman ran the family sporting goods store in Cleveland, Ohio.
Chosen by People magazine in 1990 as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world.
He was the visual inspiration for the original illustrations of superhero Green Lantern/Hal Jordan.
Finished second in the 1979 Le Mans 24-hour race in a Porsche 935.
Returned to live theater for first time in 35 years in June of 2002 in Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" at the Westport Country Playhouse near his home in Westport, CT. He directed and starred as the Stage Manager. Wife Joanne Woodward is the playhouse's Artistic Director.
He was among the celebrities on the famous "Enemies List" kept by President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal.
Was training to be a pilot while in the Navy, but was discovered to be color-blind, ending his flying aspirations.
Nominated for a 2003 Tony Award for Best Actor in the Revival of a Play, for "Our Town".
Was mentioned in La Dolce Vita (1960), in a discussion about salaries paid to film stars.
Within a space of five months in 2003, he was nominated for an Oscar (for Road to Perdition (2002)), a Tony (for "Our Town") and an Emmy (for Our Town (2003) (TV)).
Although he played the lead male roles in the original productions of three Broadway classics near the beginning of his career - "The Desperate Hours", "Picnic" and "Sweet Bird of Youth" - Newman did not receive a Tony Award nomination until 2003, when at the age of 78 he was nominated as Best Actor for his performance in the 2002 revival of the "Our Town".
Was so ashamed of his debut in the failed costume drama The Silver Chalice (1954), that he took out an ad in Variety apologizing for his performance.
His father was of German heritage and his mother was of Hungarian heritage.
He was voted the 13th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
The 4th nomination on Empire Magazine's "Gods Among Us" series along with Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, and Jack Nicholson.
Students at Princeton University have named 24 April Newman's Day. Students try to drink 24 beers over the 24 hours of the day. The tradition stems from a comment that Newman is alleged to have made; "24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not." The event is not officially sponsored by the university, and Newman has commented that he would "like to bring an end to the tradition".
He and Frank Sinatra are the only actors to win an Actor Academy Award, an Humanitarian Academy Award and a Special Honorary Academy Award. Sinatra won the Best Supporting Actor Award (1953), Humanitarian Award (1970) and a Special Award (1945, Best Short Subject The House I Live In (1945)). Newman won the Best Actor Award (1986), the Humanitarian Award (1993) and a Special Award (1985, Lifetime Achievement Award).
Lee Strasberg, who trained Newman at the Actor's Studio, said that he would have been as great an actor as Marlon Brando if he hadn't been so handsome. According to Strasberg, Newman had the talent, but he too often relied on his good looks to coast through a role.
Stumped the U.S. for Eugene McCarthy during his unsuccessful bid for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in 1968. Newman made the cover of LIFE Magazine with a McCarthy pin on his jacket on the May 10th, 1968 issue.
Appeared on Quigley Publications' annual poll of the Top Ten Money Making Stars 14 times from 1963 to 1986, which ranks him #7 for all-time in appearances in the top 10. He trails Bing Crosby, who made the list 15 times, Clark Gable (16 appearances on the list), Gary Cooper and Tom Cruise (18 times each), Clint Eastwood (21 times) and John Wayne (25 times).
Was named the #1 Box Office Star by Quigley Publications in its annual Top Ten Money Making Stars poll of movie exhibitors two years in a row, 1969 and 1970. Newman had been #2 in 1968 and #3 in '67 and would rank #3 in both 1971 and '74. Newman, who entered the list for the first time in 1963 at #9 and the last time in 1986 at #10, has made the list 17 times.
Early in his acting career, he was often mistaken for Marlon Brando. He claims to have signed around 500 autographs reading, "Best wishes, Marlon Brando."
In 2005 Premiere Magazine ranked him as the #6 Greatest Movie Star of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature.
Otto Preminger, a Jew himself, cast him in Exodus (1960) because he wanted someone of Jewish heritage who didn't "look Jewish".
Brother of the Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity
He was nominated for nine acting Academy Awards in five different decades - the 1950s (Best Lead Actor for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)), 1960s (Best Lead Actor for The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963) and Cool Hand Luke (1967)), the 1980s (Best Lead Actor for Absence of Malice (1981), The Verdict (1982) and The Color of Money (1986) winning for this last film), the 1990s (Best Lead Actor for Nobody's Fool (1994)) and finally in 2002's Road to Perdition (2002) for Best Supporting Actor.
He and his daughter Nell Potts were supposed to be in Paper Moon (1973) in the leading roles, but this changed when original director John Huston bowed out and was replaced by Peter Bogdanovich.
The role of Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) was originally awarded to James Dean, who died before filming began. Due to Dean's death, Newman was cast in the role. Dean also was signed to play Billy the Kid in The Left Handed Gun (1958), but that role was also inherited by Newman after Dean's death. Dean and Newman had shot their last screen tests for East of Eden (1955) together; the six-years-younger Dean got the part and Newman went on to star in The Silver Chalice (1954), a notorious turkey.
He is only one of five performers to be nominated for an Oscar twice for playing the same role in two separate films. He played as Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler (1961) and The Color of Money (1986), Peter O'Toole as Henry II in Becket (1964) and The Lion in Winter (1968), Al Pacino as Michael Corleone for The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather: Part II (1974), Bing Crosby as Father O'Malley in Going My Way (1944) and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) and Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth I in Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007).
He has one brother, Arthur S. Newman Jr., who was named after their father, Arthur S. Newman, a successful sporting goods store owner.
Michelle Pfeiffer wanted Newman to play her father, patriarch Larry Cook, in the 1997 movie A Thousand Acres (1997), which she produced. Newman turned down the part, which went to Jason Robards.
When Premiere Magazine does a list of 24 Great Performances from each year, they often ask the actors who their idols are. Newman has been the most frequently cited idol so far.
Was nominated 10 times for the Academy Award, including eight times as Best Actor, once as Best Supporting Actor, and once for Best Picture (the latter coming the same year he famously did not receive a Best Director nomination despite having won the then-equally prestigious New York Critics Award as Best Director for Rachel, Rachel (1968). In the acting field, the only actors with more nominations are Jack Nicholson with 12 nominations (8 Best Actor and 4 Best Supporting Actor nominations) and Laurence Olivier (nine Best Actor nominations and 1 Best Supporting Actor nod). On the distaff side, Bette Davis, who was nominated 10 times for an Academy Award, all of them Best Actress nods. Katharine Hepburn, with 12 nods (all in the Best Actress category) and Meryl Streep, with 15 nods have more acting nominations than Newman.
Is one of only five actors to be nominated for acting honors by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences over five decades (1950s, 1960s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s). Laurence Olivier (1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s), Katharine Hepburn (1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1980s),Jack Nicholson (1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s) and Michael Caine (1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s) are the others who have turned the trick.
Has donated between $150 million-$175 million to charity since the 1980s.
His performance as Frank Galvin in The Verdict (1982) is ranked #19 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
His performance as Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler (1961) is ranked #64 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
Was director Robert Wise's first pick for the lead in The Sand Pebbles (1966), eventually played by Steve McQueen, who won his only Oscar nomination for the role. Wise had earlier directed Newman in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) and Until They Sail (1957).
Turned down the role of Quint in Jaws (1975).
His performance as Butch Cassidy in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) is ranked #20 on the American Film Institute's 100 Heroes & Villains. This is a ranking which he shares with Robert Redford, who played the Sundance Kid.
His performance as Luke Jackson in Cool Hand Luke (1967) is ranked #30 on the American Film Institute's 100 Heroes & Villains.
Ranked the #1 Box Office star of 1969 and 1970 by Quigley Publications' annual poll of the Top Ten Money Making Stars. He was ranked #2 in 1968 and at #3 in 1967, 1971 and 1974. In all, he made the Top Ten list 14 times from 1963, when he entered it at #9, and 1986, when he bowed out of the Top 10 at #10. He was ranked in the Top Ten for 10 straight years from 1966-1975, peaking in the Top Three from 1967 to 1971.
The GI Bill got him through his first 3 months at Yale. To pay tuition for the rest of his time there, he sold Encyclopedia Britannica. He claims he was very good at it.
For a Mother's Day gift, he gave wife Joanne Woodward 2 hours of uninterrupted driving around the roads of Westport, Connecticut that they had never seen before.
Has said he did not want his epitaph to say two things: "Here lies Paul Newman, who died a failure because his eyes turned brown" and "Here lies the old man who wasn't a part of his time." -1960's.
Godfather of Jake Gyllenhaal.
Great admirer of Jim Carrey.
While campaigning for the Democrats in the 1968 U.S. Presidential election, Newman would rent a Jaguar on the weekends. When he found out that opponent Richard Nixon , who was known to his naysayers as "Tricky Dick", was renting the same car during the week, Newman left a note in it saying "This clutch is tricky, so you won't have any trouble with it.".
Prior to filming The Hustler (1961) , Newman lacked talent at playing pool. But after brushing up on it for the role, he felt very confident in his ability. So he bet co-star Jackie Gleason $50 on a game of pool. Being the excellent pool player he was, Gleason beat Newman. Instead of paying him in dollar bills, Newman dumped $50 worth of pennies on the table for Gleason to take.
When Newman failed to receive an Oscar nomination for his performance in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), producer Charles Schnee and director Robert Wise gave him what they called a "Noscar." The engraving says, "The Schnee-Wise Noscar award to Paul Newman for best portraying a terrible no-good, for turning him into a charming and lovable sprite, and for thereby doing what Lincoln said should never be done, i.e. fooling all of the people all of the time".
After being asked so many times what the secret was to being married so long to Joanne Woodward, he was asked yet again and simply responded, "I don't know what she puts in my food".
One of the most sought after and valuable collectible Rolex watches, the early "Daytona" model, from the 1960's, is known unofficially and passionately world wide, as the Rolex "Paul Newman." "Paul Newmans" in steel fetch as much as $100,000 in auctions. This nickname was adopted as he sported one in film.
A film poster of him in Hud (1963) appears in Midnight Cowboy (1969).
During the 1950s and 1960s he was a close friend of fellow Democrat and civil rights activist Charlton Heston. Later, in 1983, after Heston's political beliefs had moved to the Right, both actors took opposing sides in a television debate on President Ronald Reagan's Star Wars defense missile program. Heston, much better briefed and prepared than Newman, was judged to have won the debate easily. Some years later, when Newman learned that Heston was supposed to introduce him at an awards ceremony, Newman insisted that his one-time friend be replaced by the liberal Donald Sutherland.
Supported Sen. Ted Kennedy's campaign to win the Democratic presidential nomination in 1980.
In 2007, his auto racing team, known as Newman-Haas, became Newman/Haas/Lanigan due to Chicago businessman Michael Lanigan becoming a partner.
Turned down the part taken by Robert Duvall in The Paper (1994).
Announced in May 2007 that he is retiring from acting. He had previously announced his retirement in 1995, but came back to make four more movies.
Opened a restaurant in 2006 called "Dressing Room" with co-owner and chef Michael Nischan in Westport, Connecticut. It was originally opened to help subsidize the Westport Country Playhouse, which sits next to it.
He is a vocal supporter of gay marriage.
Was offered the role of "Judah Ben-Hur" in Ben-Hur (1959) but turned it down because he said he didn't have the legs to wear a tunic.
Got two roles which were first offered to Elvis Presley but which were turned down by Presley's manager: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Sweet Bird of Youth (1962).
The Eiger Sanction (1975) was originally intended as a vehicle for him.
His father, Arthur, died in 1950 at the age of 55 and his mother, Theresa, died in 1982 at the age of 86.
Announced in July 2007 that his Champ Car team is merging with NASCAR team Robert Yates Racing. It is now called Yates/Newman/Haas/Lanigan racing. Newman said the deal "in no way lessens our commitment to open-wheel racing. We want to broaden our horizons.".
Ranked #19 in Empire Magazine's 2007 100 Sexiest Movie Stars of all time.
Became a rear gunner of a TBF Avenger torpedo bomber when his color blindness disqualified him from being a pilot.
Longtime supporter of gun control, and a member of Handgun Control Inc.
Supported anti-war Senator Eugene McCarthy's bid to win the Democratic nomination from incumbent President Lyndon Johnson in 1968, and actively campaigned for George McGovern in the 1972 presidential election.
According to Joe McGinnis' book about the advertising industry's participation in Richard Nixon's 1968 campaign, the first telethon for the Eugene McCarthy Campaign, which was emceed by Newman, raised $125,000 (about $800,000 in 2008 money, when factored for inflation, a good sum for the time). Nixon's advertising people attributed the success of the telethon to Newman's participation.
In the 1970s, long before Brokeback Mountain (2005), he was thwarted by Hollywood in his desire to star in the movie version of the best-selling novel "The Front Runner", about the love affair between a male coach and a male star runner. The project remains unmade.
Supported Al Franken's campaign for election as US Senator from Minnesota.
Attended the main Democratic fund raiser for Senator John Kerry before the Democratic National Convention at Radio City Music Hall, along with Whoopi Goldberg, Jon Bon Jovi, Meryl Streep, Sarah Jessica Parker, Mary J. Blige, Chevy Chase and Jessica Lange. (13 August 2004).
Donated $1 million to "The Nation" magazine in order to keep it going.
Attended the inauguration of President Jimmy Carter on 20 January 1977.
Recorded a television advertisement for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in June 2007.
As of 2007, he is one of six directors who has directed his wife to a Best Actress Oscar nomination (Joanne Woodward in Rachel, Rachel (1968)). The other five are Joel Coen directing Frances McDormand in Fargo (1996), John Cassavetes directing Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence (1974) & Gloria (1980), Blake Edwards directing Julie Andrews in Victor Victoria (1982), Paul Czinner directing Elisabeth Bergner in Escape Me Never (1935) and Richard Brooks directing Jean Simmons in The Happy Ending (1969). Jules Dassin also directed his future wife Melina Mercouri in an Oscar-nominated performance (Never on Sunday (1960)), but they weren't married yet at the time of the nomination.
Turned down the role of Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry (1971) because he thought the screenplay was too right-wing, and recommended Clint Eastwood for the part instead.
Grandfather of Peter (born in May 1996) and Henry Elkind, the sons of his daughter Melissa "Lissy" Newman and her husband Raphael "Raphe" Elkind.
Father-in-law to Gary Irving (husband of Elinor "Nell" Newman), Raphael "Raphe" Elkind (husband of Melissa "Lissy" Newman) and Kurt Soderlund (husband of Claire "Clea" Newman).
Known as an inveterate prankster, he and Robert Redford in particular played numerous pranks on each other. One time, Redford, who was also into car racing, had a beaten-up Porsche shell delivered to Newman's porch for Newman's 50th birthday. Newman never said anything, but not long after, Redford found a crate of the (now) molten metal delivered to the living room of a house Redford rented, which dented the floor. Not to be outdone, Redford then had the metal turned into an incredibly ugly sculpture and dropped into Newman's garden.
He and Frank Sinatra are the only people who were awarded a competitive Oscar, an Honorary Award and a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the AMPAS.
Once, when he was handing out punch at a Westport charity event, a dowager asked him to stir her drink with his finger. "I'd be glad to," Newman replied, "but I just took it out of a cyanide bottle.".
His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 7060 Hollywood Blvd.
Did all of his own driving in films.
Said in an interview that a film had never made any special impact on him until he saw On the Waterfront (1954).
Cars (2006), his last movie, was the highest-grossing film of his career.
"Lost Verizon", an episode of "The Simpsons" (1989), was dedicated to his memory.
Turned down Donald Sutherland's role in A Time to Kill (1996) because he found the film's justification of murder distasteful.
Chosen by GQ magazine as one of the 50 Most Stylish Men in the Past 50 Years.
His first wife, Jacqueline "Jackie" Witte, was born in September 1929.
He was director William Friedkin's first choice for the lead role of Popeye Doyle in The French Connection (1971), but he was deemed too expensive. The role went to Newman's good friend Gene Hackman.
Turned down the lead role in Sorcerer (1977), a part that eventually went to Roy Scheider.
Profiled in "American Classic Screen Interviews" (Scarecrow Press). [2010]
Inducted into the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Hall of Fame in 2009.
[responding to an interviewer's question as to why he was never "tempted" by the many beautiful Hollywood actresses he worked with] Why fool around with hamburger when you have steak at home?
[in response to radio interviewer who asked if he would co-star with Robert Redford in a sequel to Indecent Proposal (1993)] Like a rocket! . . . I'd shack up with anyone for a million dollars. I'd shack up with a gorilla for a million, plus 10%.
[in 1974, on the success of his collaborations with wife Joanne Woodward] You should see us when we get back to the bedroom.
[in 1982] Acting is like letting your pants down - you're exposed.
The embarrassing thing is that my salad dressing is out-grossing my films.
[on philanthropy] You can only put away so much stuff in your closet.
I really just can't watch myself. I see all the machinery at work and it just drives me nuts.
If I ever feel like I'm doing something I've done before, I scrap it and start over again.
When I realized I was going to have to be a whore, to put my face on the label, I decided that the only way I could do it was to give away all the money we make. Over the years, that ethical stance has given us a 30 per cent boost. One in three customers buys my products because all the profits go to good causes and the rest buy the stuff because it is good.
It's all been a bad joke that just ran out of control. I got into food for fun but the business got a mind of its own. Now - my good Lord - look where it has gotten me. My products are on supermarket shelves, in cinemas, in the theater. And they say show business is odd.
I like racing but food and pictures are more thrilling. I can't give them up. In racing you can be certain, to the last thousandth of a second, that someone is the best, but with a film or a recipe, there is no way of knowing how all the ingredients will work out in the end. The best can turn out to be awful and the worst can be fantastic. Cooking is like performing and performing like cooking.
I'm a supporter of gay rights. And not a closet supporter, either. From the time I was a kid, I have never been able to understand attacks upon the gay community. There are so many qualities that make up a human being . . . by the time I get through with all the things that I really admire about people, what they do with their private parts is probably so low on the list that it is irrelevant.
[about Alfred Hitchcock] I think Hitch and I could have really hit it off, but the script kept getting in the way.
You can't be as old as I am without waking up with a surprised look on your face every morning: "Holy Christ, whaddya know - I'm still around!" It's absolutely amazing that I survived all the booze and smoking and the cars and the career.
I was always a character actor. I just looked like Little Red Riding Hood.
If you're playing a poker game and you look around the table and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you.
Every time I get a script it's a matter of trying to know what I could do with it. I see colors, imagery. It has to have a smell. It's like falling in love. You can't give a reason why.
For those of you who like to scarf your popcorn in the sack, the good news is that Newman's Own contains an aphrodisiac.
Being on [President Richard Nixon's] enemies list was the highest single honor I've ever received. Who knows who's listening to me now and what government list I'm on?
I started my career giving a clinic in bad acting in the film, The Silver Chalice (1954) and now I'm playing a crusty old man who's an animated automobile [in Cars (2006)]. That's a creative arc for you, isn't it?
I never ask my wife [actress Joanne Woodward] about my flaws. Instead I try to get her to ignore them and concentrate on my sense of humor. You don't want any woman to look under the carpet, guys, because there's lots of flaws underneath. Joanne believes my character in a film we did together, Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990), comes closest to who I really am. I personally don't think there's one character who comes close . . . but I learned a long time ago not to disagree on things that I don't have a solid opinion about.
[advice to young actors just starting out] Study your craft and know who you are and what's special about you. Find out what everyone does on a film set, ask questions and listen. Make sure you live life, which means don't do things where you court celebrity, and give something positive back to our society.
I've repeatedly said that for people as little in common as Joanne and myself, we have an uncommonly good marriage. We are actors. We make pictures and that's about all we have in common. Maybe that's enough. Wives shouldn't feel obligated to accompany their husbands to a ball game, husbands do look a bit silly attending morning coffee breaks with the neighborhood wives when most men are out at work. Husbands and wives should have separate interests, cultivate different sets of friends and not impose on the other...You can't spend a lifetime breathing down each other's necks.
Twenty-five years ago I couldn't walk down the street without being recognized. Now I can put a cap on, walk anywhere and no one pays me any attention. They don't ask me about my movies and they don't ask me about my salad dressing because they don't know who I am. Am I happy about this? You bet.
I've been accused of being aloof. I'm not. I'm just wary.
[what wife Joanne Woodward thinks of his love for racing] She thinks competitive driving is the silliest thing in the world. It is also very scary for her, and she doesn't much care for it.
The first time I remember women reacting to me was when we were filming Hud (1963) in Texas. Women were literally trying to climb through the transoms at the motel where I stayed. At first, it's flattering to the ego. At first. Then you realize that they're mixing me up with the roles I play - characters created by writers who have nothing to do with who I am.
I had no natural gift to be anything--not an athlete, not an actor, not a writer, not a director, a painter of garden porches--not anything. So I've worked really hard, because nothing ever came easily to me.
[why he decided to stay in Connecticud] Better than Montana . . . and my wife and I found a nice cemetery here.
[on winning his first Oscar after so many losses] It's like chasing a beautiful woman for 80 years. Finally, she relents and you say, "I'm terribly sorry. I'm tired".
That I survived the first film I did [The Silver Chalice (1954)] was extraordinarily good fortune. I mean, I had dogs chasing me down the street. I was wearing this tiny little Greek cocktail dress - with MY legs! Good Lord, it was really bad. In fact, it was the worst film made in the 1950s. My first review said that "Mr. Newman delivers his lines with the emotional fervor of a Putnam stop conductor announcing local stop".
I can remember in my high school days and I kept thinking to myself, "Now, why did those actors go out in public after a certain age?" I mean, why would they wanna blow this image they'd worked so hard and allow themselves to be photographed? They should have just stayed at home and stayed young and youthful. And now it's there for everybody to look at - all our words, stuttering, and bad posture. All those things that should never happen, really. Well, times change. Yeah, it ain't so bad!
[about his long marriage to Joanne Woodward] We are very, very different people and yet somehow we fed off those varied differences and instead of separating us, it has made the whole bond a lot stronger.
[explaining why he accepted The Silver Chalice (1954) for his film debut] After the success of "Picnic", I had a lot of offers from Hollywood and I never accepted any of them. Finally, my agent said, "You know, they're going to keep knocking on your door and knocking on your door and at some point they're going to stop. So you better make sure you say 'Yes' before that stop occurs". That was when somebody sent me a copy of "The Silver Chalice" and I got talked into it. I knew that was going to be a bomb.
I picture my epitaph: "Here lies Paul Newman, who died a failure because his eyes turned brown."
[1970s] I think I get a very unfortunate view of the press. I think of what is written about me, about 5% of it is accurate. I'm not comfortable with them, they're not comfortable with me. I certainly am not comfortable with photographers.
[yalking about his days as a member of the Actors Studio] I remember someone who helped me a lot in my early days. We were just rehearsing a scene and I remember she stopped me with an absolute rifle shot of a clap and grabbed my shirt and said, "You are not thinking, you are just thinking you are thinking". And if you watch actors, you can tell those who don't necessarily indicate in broad strokes what's going on, but you can really see in their eyes that they are going through a process.
I'm always puzzled by this talk about star . . . image. I think there's people who are writers or barbers or mechanics or race car drivers that have certain recognizable personalities, and I don't think just because they happen to be on the screen that it makes them any more exceptional.
I will continue to get behind the wheel of a racing car as long as I am able. But that could all end tomorrow . . .
In the early days of films, the movie star in this country replaced royalty. They've been demoted since then but they're still treated as beings larger than life.
A man can only be judged by his actions, and not by his good intentions or his beliefs.
Acting is a question of absorbing other people's personalities and adding some of your own experiences.
Almost everything I learned about being an actor came from those early years at the Actor's Studio.
I would like it if people would think that beyond Newman, there's a spirit that takes action, a heart, and a talent that doesn't come from my blue eyes.
I don't think there's anything exceptional or noble in being philanthropic. It's the other attitude that confuses me.
I'd like to be remembered as a guy who tried - who tried to be part of his times, tried to help people communicate with one another, tried to find some decency in his own life, tried to extend himself as a human being. Someone who isn't complacent, who doesn't cop out.
A man with no enemies is a man with no character.
Men experience many passions in a lifetime. One passion drives away the one before it.
Once I started taking drama classes, I asked myself why I had ever wasted so much time on a football team.
As long as my heart continues to beat, I think I will continue.
Acting isn't really a creative process, it's an interpretative one.
The characters I have the least in common with are the ones I have the greatest success with. The further a role is from my own experience, the more I try to deepen it.
To be an actor, you have to be a child.
[Joanne Woodward] has always given me unconditional support in all my choices and endeavors, and that includes my race car driving, which she deplores. To me, that's love.
You can't stop being a citizen just because you have a Screen Actors' Guild card.
Ever since Slap Shot (1977) I've been swearing more. I knew I had a problem one day when I turned to my daughter and said, "Would you please pass the fucking salt?"
I wasn't driven to acting by an inner compulsion. I was running away from the sporting goods business.
I'm not able to work anymore as an actor and still at the level that I would want to. I'm just, you know, you start to lose your memory, you start to lose your confidence, you start to lose your invention. So I think that's pretty much a closed book for me.
[asked why he thought he became so successful as an actor] I have a face that does not belong to a thief.
[2007] I have an extraordinary attention span. I manage to juggle two or three different ideas at the same time, and that's probably, if I have a gift, that's probably the best gift that's given me.
[about a $10-million donation he made to his alma mater] I owe Kenyon College a great deal. I even started my first business, a laundry service, there, and I depended on the extra $60 a week.
[on Julie Andrews] The last of the really great dames.
[on Tom Cruise] He's got a lot of actor's courage. He doesn't mind climbing up there and jumping off. It's nice to watch that.
[on Henry Fonda] If I can be like Henry Fonda, then I look forward to aging to sixty and beyond -- and not just because Hank finally won the Oscar he deserved. He was a good character actor and a good actor in the American tradition of playing variations on oneself.
[in 2005] It'd be lunatic to try to get into politics at my age. I don't think I'd have the stomach for it. I wish I felt a little more comfortable about the direction that we're going. It does not seem to be of the people, by the people and for the people. It seems to be about something else completely different. I think part of it is the media's fault for not being more aggressive and persistent and nasty and I think it's the people's fault for not paying attention. That's not a good combination. It allows people in government to do pretty much what they want.
Once you've seen your face on a bottle of salad dressing. it's hard to take yourself seriously.
[in 1994] I'm not mellower, I'm not less angry, I'm not less self-critical, I'm not less tenacious. Maybe the best part is that your liver can't handle those beers at noon anymore.
If anyone had ever told me 20 years ago I'd be sitting in a room with peach walls, I would have told them to take a nap in a urinal.
I have no natural gift to be anything - not an athlete, not an actor, not a writer, not a director, a painter of garden porches - not anything. So I've worked really hard, because nothing ever came easily to me.
I can say fairly safely that I didn't really know much about acting until I got to be in my fifties.
I felt guilty as hell about leaving my wife and children, and I will carry that guilt for the rest of my life. But the fact that Joanne and I are still together after all those years proves I took the right decision.
We are such spendthrifts with our lives. The trick of living is to slip on and off the planet with the least fuss you can muster. I'm not running for sainthood. I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer, who puts back into the soil what he takes out.
Once you've seen your face on a bottle of salad dressing. it's hard to take yourself seriously.
Paul Newman
Paul Newman turned down the role of Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry (1971) because he thought the screenplay was too right-wing, and recommended Clint Eastwood for the part instead.
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